Wellbores are drilled to, for example, locate and produce hydrocarbons. During a drilling operation, it may be desirable to perform evaluations of the formations penetrated and/or encountered formation fluids. In some cases, a drilling tool is removed and a wireline tool is then deployed into the wellbore to test and/or sample the formation and/or fluids associated with the formation. In other cases, the drilling tool may be provided with devices to test and/or sample the surrounding formation and/or formation fluids without having to remove the drilling tool from the wellbore. These samples or tests may be used, for example, to characterize hydrocarbons extracted from the formation.
Formation evaluation often requires fluid(s) from the formation to be drawn into the downhole tool for testing, evaluation and/or sampling. Various devices, such as probes, are extended from the downhole tool to establish fluid communication with the formation surrounding the wellbore and to draw fluid(s) into the downhole tool. Fluid(s) passing through and/or captured within the downhole tool may be tested and/or analyzed to determine various parameters and/or properties while the downhole tool is positioned in situ, that is, within a wellbore. Various properties of hydrocarbon reservoir fluids, such as viscosity, density and phase behavior of the fluid at reservoir conditions may be used to evaluate potential reserves, determine flow in porous media and design completion, separation, treating, and metering systems, among others.